Personalize Your Mac's Look & Feel

Q. I've seen web sites all over the place with tips and
tricks on how to customize your Mac. But all of this stuff looks
too confusing. What should I do to personalize my computer without
confusing myself or destroying my computer?

A. There are many sites out there, such as ResExcellence, that shows you
how to customize your Mac. But sites like these appear very
confusing because they only give you instructions "customizing
gurus" can understand.

You don't need to be a guru to personalize your computer.

First, one of the basic things you can always do is the desktop
picture. MacDesktops is my
favorite site for getting desktops, since you can pretty much find
anything you're looking for.

Another easy customization solution is Kaleidoscope. This program will
drastically change the look of your entire computer. It customizes
the look of your menu bars, tool bars, menus, cursor, and many
other aspects. And the best part of this little wonder program is
it has thousands off "themes" which you can install to change the
look of your computer.

Another non-dangerous fix you can try is switching icons around.
Changing icons is as easy as selecting the icon you want, copying
it to the clipboard, choosing Get Info, and pasting the new icon
over the old one. The hardest part is finding the right icons for
you. There are many sites you can go to to get icons. Some of my
favorites are Iconfactory
and Epoch Icons.
There are tons of other Mac Icon places.

There are many other solutions to your ugly looking plain
desktop, but most of them require a program called ResEdit. This
program allows you to physically edit the insides of a program to
make it more customized. However, this application is the easiest
way to mess up your computer in a major way. So the best idea is to
stay away from this program unless you know what you're doing.

In the end, customizing your computer can be fun and enjoyable.
Also, many sites have competitions for most customized desktop.
Check out
this screen shot to see how truly customized a desktop can be.
It's my desktop.

Evan Kleiman has been writing for Low End Mac since January
1999. He also runs his own site, Evansite. Evan uses an iMac,
along with some vintage hardware. You can read more about his
computing experience in The Many Macs of
Evan Kleiman.